"Oh look! They're finally dancing!" Calem said excitedly, pointing over Serena's shoulder.

Serena craned her neck to look and indeed, her best friend had her arms carefully on Gary's shoulders whose hands were at her waist.

Although, they appeared to be trying to standing as far away from each other as possible, both sets of arms straight as sticks and if Serena wasn't mistaken, was Shauna frowning instead of smiling?

Calem laughed and Serena turned her gaze back toward him as he said, "Wow. I didn't think Gary was that bad of a formal dancer."

"What do you mean?"

"He keeps stepping on your poor friend's feet. Almost like he's stomping on them actually."

"Oh." That would explain the frowns.

"Looks like our food is here!" Calem said as he stopped dancing, his gaze towards their table.

Serena watched as two waiters carefully placed silver-covered plates at each setting and stood back, waiting for them to return to their seats. "Wow."

"Like it so far?"

"So far," Serena said with a smile and accepted Calem's arm once more as they headed back to the table. Holding her seat out and helping her settle down before taking his own seat beside her.

Liking the evening was far understatement. Serena hadn't had such a lovely time in quite a while. And it wasn't just the fact that they got to watch a beautiful sunset while eating their appetizers nor was it the live band and dancing or even the fact that the entire floor rotated slowly to give them a full view of Lumiose.

Sure, those were definite bonuses but Calem himself had been nothing but one-hundred percent attentive, genuinely wanting to know about her and she felt comfortable in their continued conversation.

Just as the waiters were lifting the covers off of Serena and Calem's plates, Gary and Shauna came back as well, both red-faced, though she hadn't the slightest clue that it was from anger or embarrassment and not from too much dancing.

"Perfect timing," Calem said as their trays were also uncovered.

Gary plopped down at his seat across from Calem and didn't wait for Shauna to sit which made Serena frown. Though she had known Gary's reputation around campus to be a bit of a playboy, she had always heard that he treated women respectfully when he took them out.

For the next few minutes, the conversation was centered on their dishes and would they like to try each other's and how fresh the fish tasted.

Serena sighed in pleasure as she took the first bite of her grilled salmon drizzled in a delicate sauce.

Gary told them how the restaurant was not only known for being the only revolving restaurant in the tri-city area but also for serving fresh fish caught that day.

"Wow. Yeah this is amazing," Serena said. Then steering the conversation away from the food, "So Gary, what have you been up to since graduation?"

"Helping out my grandfather and working on small projects with my business partner back," he replied then took a bite of his steak.

"How is Ash doing?" Calem chimed in and Serena quite nearly dropped her fork. Ash? Could he be talking about the same Ash she used to know?

Shauna sat straighter in her seat at the mention of Ash. "Oh Ash Ketchum, right? I got to meet him yesterday!"

Wow. They were talking about the same Ash! Serena leaned forward in excitement. "Shauna you know him?"

"He's friends with Kaiwe and I met him before you came," Shauna explained.

"Oh man. I would've loved to see him and catch up! It's been ages!"

Calem turned to look at her. "You know him too?"

Serena nodded. "We went to elementary school together for a few years."

"He's the Junior VP of Oak Tech," Shauna said. "There was a whole article on him in the Vanville Vanity. He sounds really sweet."

"Not just about him," Gary added.

"Were you featured in it as well?" Serena asked, sensing the annoyance coming from him.

He nodded. "But apparently I wasn't as memorable."

"Ash had the loveliest quote about true love," Shauna continued gushing and completely ignoring Gary, her hands clasped together. "And when I read it, I thought, now that is a real man."

"Sounds like someone's got a little crush," Serena teased as Shauna stuck her tongue out.

"I don't like him or anything. But," she said. "I did think what he said was wonderful."

"What did he say?" Calem asked.

Shauna scrunched up her nose. "Let's see, he said something along the lines of only ever wanting one woman and when he finds her, he's going to treat her like a princess and do everything right."

Serena sighed. "That's so romantic. Hard to believe it came out of the mouth of a dense boy"

"Dense boy?" Calem responds, puzzled,

Gary laughed out loud "Oh yeah, I remember the time when Ash was dense. Damn, he rejected lots of pretty girls, he thought they would just be friends, but no, they confessed their feelings to him and he just rejected them all"

"How do you know?"

"We grew up together in our hometown called Pallet. I met Ash since childhood, we started out pretty rough along the way, but that all changed since we're friends"

"Wow," Shauna commented. "So Playboy Prince and Ash are childhood friends who work together. Serena and Ash went to school together. Kaiwe and Ash played soccer in college together. And –" she looked at Calem. "How do you know him?"

Calem dabbed his mouth with a cloth napkin. "Through Gary. We were introduced when Gary and I did some modeling together."

"You? Model?"

"Oh yeah." Gary flexed an arm and though he wore a suit, Serena could still see the muscle swell against the material. "And I did it shirtless. Does that make you excited?" Gary smirked, giving a wink.

Shauna replied dryly, "Yes. Excited to puke."

Serena decided to ask, "So Ash is Junior VP huh? What does that make you Gary?"

"JP. Junior President."

Serena raised an eyebrow. "Impressive. I heard around campus that you'd be taking over the company but to reach the top so soon? And Ash too? I think I'm even more shocked to learn that he's made it that high!"

Gary chuckled. "That's what I always tell him. But surprisingly underneath all that denseness and immaturity hides a brain. You just have to look real deep."

The two shared a laugh as the conversation now turned to Shauna when Calem asked, "What do you do Shauna?"

"Right now I'm a fortune teller," she said and stopped to glare as Gary snorted into his drink. "Yes, a fortune teller. I'm planning to go back to school after earning some money though."

"For what? A Masters degree in magic ball reading?" Gary said laughing to himself only stopping when Shauna shot him a murderous glare.

"That's definitely unique and admirable. I've never really met a fortune teller before." Calem encouraged.  

Shauna smiled at him. "There's always a first time for everything!"

"Come to think of it, this is my first time dating one," Gary admitted. "And it's a good one indeed"

"We. are not. dating," Shauna immediately corrected.

"But this is a date," Gary pointed out.

"But we are not dating."

They stared at one another while Serena and Calem exchanged unsure looks. What was going on with those two and how did they know each other?

When Serena had tried to find out, Shauna hastily changed the conversation while Gary just smiled secretively, humming what sounded like a song from The Sound of Music. It made no sense at all.

"So um, what are you planning to get a Masters in?" Calem asked quickly, sensing the tension.

Shauna turned to him with a smile. "Psychology. I majored in it in undergrad and I think I want to continue to a higher degree."

"That sounds promising."

They started discussing the field and Serena was quite impressed with Calem's handling of the conversation flow and for the rest of the night, every time Gary made a comment towards Shauna, he managed to steer things away from her.

The only thing she could do was sit back and enjoy the rest of the night with the amazing model whose good points only continued to increase.